Past Events

"The Pond at Optevoz and a Moment in French Realism"
Speaker: Michael Marlais, James M. Gillespie professor of art, Colby College
Format: Gallery Talk
Date: Thursday, September 23, 2004
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Weissman Special Exhibition Gallery

Marlais compares Daubigny’s portrayal of a real site where water ran a mill and cattle drink from a pond to the pure, clean, ideal water shown in the classical Valenciennes painting.

"An Ecological Read of the Ponds at Optevoz"
Speaker: Thomas Millette, associate professor of geography, Mount Holyoke College
Format: Lecture
Date: Thursday October 14, 2004
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: Art Building, Gamble Auditorium

A specialist in the technology used for environmental study, Millette shows ecological changes that have occurred in these French waters since Daubigny painted The Water’s Edge, Optevoz in 1856.

"Land Scapes"
Speaker: Kathie Florsheim
Format: Slide Presentation and Lecture
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Time: 7 pm
Location: Art Building, Gamble Auditorium
Co-sponsored by: The Center for the Environment and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum

The artist’s photography, mostly of Rhode Island’s seashore, brings to the fore environmental issues where the constructed environment meets the natural environment.

“Thirst and Abundance in the Twenty-First Century: The Politics of Water”
Format: Public Conversation
Date: Thursday, February 10, 2005
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Art Building, Gamble Auditorium

Leading environmentalist Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project, and Tina Clarke, campaign director of the Massachusetts Clean Water Project, discuss the major questions guiding public debates on water use, conservation, and accessibility.

“Water: Its Ecological, Civic, and Cultural Meanings”
Format: Roundtable
Date: Thursday, February 17, 2005
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Art Building, Gamble Auditorium

This discussion explores the characteristics of water from its role as a basic element of life to its influence on community activism and social movements. Tom Miner, former executive director, Connecticut River Watershed Council, Daniel Ross, executive director, and Hilda Colon, organizing director, Nuestras Raices, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Hilary Noll '05, and Giovanna Di Chiro, visiting assistant professor of women's studies at Mount Holyoke College, discuss how water works in a community. What are the infrastructures that get water from its origin to a community? Why does water matter for creating a community?

“Water: The Oil of the Twenty-First Century?”
Format: Panel discussion
Date: Thursday, March 3, 2005
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Art Building, Gamble Auditorium

"Many of the wars of this [twentieth] century were about oil, but the wars of the next century will be about water." —Former World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin.
Ian MacDonald, professor of environmental science at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, Elizabeth Wilson '72, petroleum geologist, and Stephen Jones, professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, discuss the ecological and economic relationship between oil and water and their significance as (re)sources of power in the twenty-first century.

Outdoor Sculpture Presentation
Speaker: Mary Miss
Format: Lecture: "The Art of Engagement"
Date: Thursday, March 31, 2005
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Art Building, Gamble Auditorium

A presentation by public artist Mary Miss, whose works have often focused on water. Miss has been selected by Mount Holyoke's Outdoor Sculpture Committee as a candidate for a commissioned piece for the campus.

“The Place of Water in the World: Ritual, Beauty, and the Environment”
Format: Symposium
Date: Thursday, March 31 - Saturday, April 2, 2005
Location: Art Building, Gamble Auditorium

This public exchange explores the relationship between water and place in shaping human existence and survival. Within a framework of visual renditions of water, the symposium addresses the following questions: What is the place of water in our physical and metaphysical lives? How do sacred and profane uses of water flow together or diverge in the world? Leading artists, scientists, and scholars will discuss their work and specific local and global water sites.

“Making Waves: Projects and Presentations on Water”
Format: Student symposium
Date: Friday, April 8, 2005
Time: 4:00 - 6:00 pm
Location: Room 305, Kendade Hall

Linking with the 2005 Mount Holyoke Student Science Symposium, this event celebrates a college-wide presentation of leading student work on a variety of topics including a focus on water.

"Making Waves: WATER WORKS"
Format: Student Art Installations, Art Opening
Date: Friday, April 8, 2005
Time: 8:00 pm - Midnight
Location: Open Square, Holyoke

WATER WORKS highlights and celebrates student research and interpretations of water across all disciplines. This culminating event for “Making Waves: Projects and Presentations on Water” presents student work focusing on water. Five-College Students and Holyoke youth are invited to share projects and posters; graphs and maps; water samples and images; art, music and dance performances; art installations; video and PowerPoint presentations; photographs, artworks, banners, and word art. Organized by Visiting Artist Ann Rosenthal and her students from the course “Ecoart: Imaging & Writing Water.”

This series was inspired by Mount Holyoke faculty and students and the FotoFest 2004 program in Houston, Texas. We are indebted to Wendy Watriss, the artistic director of FotoFest 2004-Water, and to Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project, for their support in planning this series.